What Keeps Us Together
by cherrymilk
Summary: For #FFXV Week on Tumblr! Theme: world of ruin. Noctis couldn't have been the only thing keeping them together all those years ago. Prompto is sure of it.


**Author's Note:** That's it for #FFXV Week! I hope you enjoyed all of these little stories. You can find me on Tumblr beat-rush!

* * *

Prompto's eyes flickered open, only to focus on the tin ceiling of the Hammerhead trailer. He sat up and ran his hands through his hair in an effort to tame it. His next order of business was to look at his calendar – this was a new habit of his. He had never been one to keep track of the time, but he felt the need to as soon as the darkness had fallen. It had been almost ten years.

Prompto sighed. _Any day now_ , he thought with fake cheer.

He stepped out of the trailer and found himself staring at the dark expanse of land before him. Hammerhead was flooded with artificial light. There were plenty of people outside. All of them looked tired. Ten years was a long time to wait, Prompto knew. But he still believed that Noctis would return. He had to.

Prompto tried to think about Noctis as little as possible. It hurt so badly – and every time he thought about Noctis, he ended up thinking about Ignis and Gladio. They still saw each other, but it was nothing like before. Despite his efforts to think about literally anything else, Prompto couldn't help but hang onto the past. He didn't know what he missed more: the light, or his friends.

Prompto greeted people cheerfully as he headed toward the garage. The front was open, and Cindy was inside tinkering away. Her hair was wild – there was no need for a hat when there wasn't any sunshine – and her grey jumpsuit was streaked with grease. She looked up as Prompto walked in.

"Mornin'," she said cheerfully. "We got a lot of work to do today!"

"Good," Prompto said dejectedly. "I need the distraction."

"Already?" Cindy quirked an eyebrow at him. "Didn't you just wake up?"

Prompto sighed. "We're reaching the ten year mark, and I…"

Cindy put her wrench down and walked over to Prompto. She placed a reassuring hand on his arm. After all this time, he still felt butterflies in his stomach when he was around her.

 _The guys would make so much fun of me if they knew_ , he thought fondly.

"He'll be back any day now," Cindy said firmly. "Don't you go givin' up now, alright? I need you to keep me afloat."

Prompto perked up at that. "Really?"

She smiled up at him. "Really. Now get to work, mister."

"Yes ma'am!"

* * *

Cindy watched Prompto as he sat at a bench and worked. He was giving off such an air of defeat today. She wanted to help, but didn't know how to.

Suddenly, an idea popped into her head.

"Hey," she said, breaking their comfortable silence. "Why don't you catch up with the others?"

Prompto lifted his eyebrows. "I…don't know."

"Can't hurt, can it? I can tell you're missin' them."

"Is it that obvious?" he asked sheepishly. She nodded, and he sighed. "I want to, but things haven't been the same since Noct…left."

"I know," Cindy said gently. "But you can change that, can't you?"

Prompto looked at her intently. "Yeah. You're right."

* * *

It took a few days, but Prompto finally managed to get Ignis and Gladio in one place. They met outside of the Hammerhead trailer.

"You ever call out of the blue like that again and I'll kill you," Gladio said, taking a seat. "I thought you were in trouble."

"I concur," Ignis said, turning his face toward Prompto. "Your panicked tone did nothing to help matters either."

"Sorry, sorry," Prompto said guiltily. "I just needed to see you guys."

"What for?" Gladio demanded.

"I…" Prompto trailed off and looked at his friends nervously. He suddenly felt incredibly stupid.

"Are you alright, Prompto?" Ignis asked.

"I am," Prompto said quickly. "It's dumb. I just…I just needed to see you."

"You're kidding, right?" Gladio was thoroughly unimpressed. "That's it? That's what you – "

"Gladio," Ignis said firmly, cutting him off. He turned toward Prompto. "I understand."

Prompto felt as if Ignis had lifted a weight off his shoulders.

 _That's Iggy,_ he thought. _Always taking care of us and making sure we're doing okay_.

"It's just…I miss the way things were before."

"Before? You mean ten years ago?" Gladio asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Prompto replied defensively. "Things were different. We were together, and we were happy – I mean, things sucked – but at least we were together!"

Gladio and Ignis remained silent, which encouraged Prompto to keep going.

"I-I miss you. Both of you. Was Noct really…the only thing keeping us together?" He felt tears begin to prick at his eyes. He blinked them back.

There was a long silence.

"No," Ignis finally said. His tone was gentle. "No, of course not."

Prompto let out a long exhale and looked at Gladio.

"Noct wouldn't want us to be like this, right?" Prompto asked brokenly.

"No," Gladio admitted. "No."

"We let things get out of hand," Ignis said. "You were right to call us here."

Together, they decided that things would change. They talked all night, catching up and reminiscing about Noctis. They teased him about Cindy – Prompto could almost hear Noct's voice teasing him as well.

* * *

The next morning, Prompto woke up to the tin ceiling of the trailer once again. Gladio and Ignis were nowhere to be seen. His heart dropped.

 _What was the point?_ he wondered. He felt so alone. He rubbed nervously at the barcode on his wrist. Prompto and loneliness did not mix well. He walked out of the trailer and squinted as the bright lights of Hammerhead assaulted his vision.

"There you are."

Prompto turned his head toward the voice. Ignis and Gladio were sitting outside at the same plastic table they'd been at last night.

"You're still here," Prompto said happily. "I thought…"

"We deserve a little more credit than _that_ ," Gladio yawned.

Prompto wandered over to the table. He looked down at it.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Breakfast," Ignis replied, taking a seat. "Eat it before it gets cold."

Prompto felt an intense rush of emotion as he sat down. His hand shook as he held his fork. He felt warm inside. He hadn't felt that way for years.

"Well, isn't this a pretty sight!"

The three of them turned to see Cindy, who was walking toward them with a big smile on her face.

"It's nice to see you boys together," she said cheerfully. She gave Prompto a big smile.

"You'll be seeing a lot more of us," Gladio promised. "Prompto's useless without us."

Ignis chuckled.

"H-hey! I was doing perfectly fine before you showed up!" Prompto protested.

"A perfectly fine person wouldn't have grown _that_ facial hair," Gladio said.

"Dreadful," Ignis agreed, despite the fact that he couldn't have possibly seen it.

Cindy smiled. "Well, I'll leave you boys to it."

She walked off, leaving Prompto to defend himself against the teasing of the others. He thought about calling her back to thank her, but was quickly distracted by Ignis lecturing him about letting his breakfast go cold.


End file.
